Going through Dorchester on my way home from the Cape this weekend I had an interesting experience with the police. And by interesting I mean I almost pooped my pants.
I seem to always get in trouble when I am with my friend Higgsy from London who doesn't usually wear a seatbelt for whatever reason and usually puts his feet high up on the dashboard. He's also quite a lanky fellow so it's very noticeable for a passerbye. Dorchester is not such a great neighborhodd in Boston but it wasn't too late, only around 9 or so and it was Sunday.
I still don't know why I was pulled over but there were two cars and the one unmarked one had a big black dude in street clothes that was the most intimidating "police" officer I've ever had to talk to. I think they thought we must have been someone else because they first were asking about what Higgsy was holding on his hand (a GPS) and where we were going...he asked me if I had been drinking and I said no and he pressed me on it saying, "so you haven't a single drink today??!!!" and since the truth was that I had had a beer at around 11 am I told him so and he went bezerk and asked if I thought he was an idiot and told me to step out of the car. I tried to explain that what I meant was that I had drank one beer and not "been drinking" - seems like two very different things right? He started shouting at me about if he asks a question he wants an answer and he asked if I was drinking water whether I would tell him or not. It was absotuely ridiculous. He then was saying how I was stumbling and my eyes were all glazed over - which none of this was true and I told him to breathalize me. He then told me he could put me in the slammer if he wanted. and after telling Higgsy (as they continued to harrass me) that they were fuc$#ng me, they even searched through my car and asked about open containers. They were saying that Higgs was going to have to drive my car home and I told them that he only had an international liscence and didn't know how to drive stick and they were like "we don't care."
The whole thing was crazy and when they finally let me go back in my car they jokingly said to Higgsy, "what's going on here?!" and he told me that they were indeed screwing with me. And actually as I found out afterwards he had told them to do so when they asked him halfway through if they should keep doing it. If he had said no things probably would have gotten worse so I think it was the right answer. But still, they couldn't have been completly screwing around since they continued to search my car even after they told him it wasn't real.
I'm just glad I got away unscraped but it was really terrifying and I'm never good in those situations anyways. I wish I could know why I was pulled over - they just told some lame thing like "slow down" right at the end but I feel like this is exactly why so many people hate cops. They probably could have actually put me in jail for some made up thing if they had really wanted to.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Something smells Fishy at 3231 Washington St.
A christian from Ecuador, a Muslim from Springfield (MA), and a Jew from Vermont walk into a bar...
sounds like the beginning to some joke right? Well this is the rainbow that is my apartment and for the most we get along pretty well. Last night my Muslim roommate Hammed (who's not really observant at all but that's his background) expressed some frustrations with me. I understood a lot of his complaints and I can get in trouble when I fail to see something that is common sense to most people. Take this for instance:
My roommate Hammed told me that his whole family and a bunch of friends would be coming to the house for a graduation party and he gave us some good heads up notice. While I knew they were coming I didn't really think it would be such a bad idea to fry up a quick fish before they got there. Problem was, by the time I actually started frying this smelly greasy fish, his whole family was there, and for some reason, many were in suit and ties and standing around me as I fried. I was the loan white person there too. His mom and sister invited me though to come and join outside with their bbq but I could tell Hammed would not be happy if I took her up on this offer.
So no one actually said anything about the fish at the time, and looking back it is somewhat humorous, albeit rude. But apparently, as I found out last night, my roommate has been holding a grudge against me for the last few months after since this fish frying incidence. I can understand his frustration - I just don't do deal with passive aggressive people who hold things in like this.
sounds like the beginning to some joke right? Well this is the rainbow that is my apartment and for the most we get along pretty well. Last night my Muslim roommate Hammed (who's not really observant at all but that's his background) expressed some frustrations with me. I understood a lot of his complaints and I can get in trouble when I fail to see something that is common sense to most people. Take this for instance:
My roommate Hammed told me that his whole family and a bunch of friends would be coming to the house for a graduation party and he gave us some good heads up notice. While I knew they were coming I didn't really think it would be such a bad idea to fry up a quick fish before they got there. Problem was, by the time I actually started frying this smelly greasy fish, his whole family was there, and for some reason, many were in suit and ties and standing around me as I fried. I was the loan white person there too. His mom and sister invited me though to come and join outside with their bbq but I could tell Hammed would not be happy if I took her up on this offer.
So no one actually said anything about the fish at the time, and looking back it is somewhat humorous, albeit rude. But apparently, as I found out last night, my roommate has been holding a grudge against me for the last few months after since this fish frying incidence. I can understand his frustration - I just don't do deal with passive aggressive people who hold things in like this.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Canadian Cougars
Going home for Memorial Day was really nice. I took a trip to perhaps one of my top 3 favourite cities - Montreal. There's just a lot to do there, beautiful parks and overlook at Mont Royal, lots of good eateries and cultural events, and the city just always seems to be more alive than Boston (or Burlington for that matter). And I'm not just saying this because when you turn 18 in Vermont you go to Montreal to drink legally (slash see some "dancing"), it really does seem to be more vibrant. Every time I've been there seems to be some funny or crazy thing that happens. The highlight from this trip was going with my current roommate in Boston to a club downtown (unlike Boston you can actually hang out downtown at night) known as "le Funkytown" that a random stranger had recommended to us. The funny thing was that it actually was pretty funky town (the music wasn't bad)- just not in the way I expected. After paying a $10 cover there was no turning around after coming in and noticing that there was hardly a single person there under the age of 39. Now for most 24 year olds this would be a pretty awkward moment - and it was. Especially because many people had that real traditional Quebecois thing going on. But I figured I had nothing to lose so I took to the dance floor and after some time was in my element and had a small crowd dancing with me. I ended up having a pretty fun time with some of the Canadian Cougars - although for some reason all of these woman were about a foot taller than me. I even inspired some older balding men to join the dance floor - good times.
The funny conclusion to this trip was that ever since the border police searched my car as a teen many years ago I always freak out at the border (not that I wouldn't anyways). Going to Canada the guards pretty much say, "have a good time eh (added for emphasis) and if you go to that club Funky Town make sure to say hi to Edna for me," but on the way back into the U.S. they are really terrible. You feel like you are going through interegation and you've done something wrong and have to crap really badly all of the sudden. This time was no different and I knew I would screw up. The border guard quickly fired off 6 questions in a menacing tone not giving me anytime to answer: "What were you doing in Canada? Where are you from? How long were you there? What illegal substances do you have in the car? Did you buy anything in Canada? How do you (in the car) know each other?" He had asked me where I lived too and I mistakenly said Shelburne Vermont and not Boston because I was nervous and after my roommate had said Boston and I had answered we knew eachother because we lived together, it didn't quite add up and we had to get out of the car while my roommate (who's from Ecuador) recieved an additional 30 minutes of questioning. While these questions might seem easy, put in the right context and with the right tone of voice it's really intimidating even when you've done nothing wrong.
The funny conclusion to this trip was that ever since the border police searched my car as a teen many years ago I always freak out at the border (not that I wouldn't anyways). Going to Canada the guards pretty much say, "have a good time eh (added for emphasis) and if you go to that club Funky Town make sure to say hi to Edna for me," but on the way back into the U.S. they are really terrible. You feel like you are going through interegation and you've done something wrong and have to crap really badly all of the sudden. This time was no different and I knew I would screw up. The border guard quickly fired off 6 questions in a menacing tone not giving me anytime to answer: "What were you doing in Canada? Where are you from? How long were you there? What illegal substances do you have in the car? Did you buy anything in Canada? How do you (in the car) know each other?" He had asked me where I lived too and I mistakenly said Shelburne Vermont and not Boston because I was nervous and after my roommate had said Boston and I had answered we knew eachother because we lived together, it didn't quite add up and we had to get out of the car while my roommate (who's from Ecuador) recieved an additional 30 minutes of questioning. While these questions might seem easy, put in the right context and with the right tone of voice it's really intimidating even when you've done nothing wrong.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Summer begins
It really is great that the sun is out, baseballs are flying, and we are on our way...
This past week was bike to work week and even though I work way out in the boonies (West Bridgewater, MA) I was able to borrow my roommates old rickety bike and do the 28 miles back each way on Thursday. My legs were dead but it was an interesting experience, also a sad one as I realized that this would really be impossible to do on any regular basis.
The ride in itself was uneventful but coming back I found a parking ticket (street cleaning) on my car and couldn't believe it - not because I got one, this is probably my 7th ticket or so since moving here, but because I had forgotten about my car specifically because I biked that day. This was sadly ironic.
Speaking of sadly ironic, just a few days later I was playing tennis at the MIT tennis courts and noticed afterwards that a joyous barbecue was taking place so I went by and was offered hot dogs, chips, drinks, the whole works (I sweat I didn't even try to fit in as a student, although I guess I already do - small, dorky, and Jewish). I wasn't going to say no and so I partook and enjoyed a free afternoon of food and drink on M.I.T. But was it really on M.I.T.? The more I thought about the more I realized how college tuition is so high these days and some portion of our parent's tuition money is being channeled into places like this and ending up in the mouth's of the wrong people - like me. I guess you could say the same thing about a thousand budgeted items at a college and all of the student organizations which serve no purpose except to have their own bbq's and partake in the fun and enjoyment of redirecting a small portion of our parent's tuition money towards our fun. Yeh college
This past week was bike to work week and even though I work way out in the boonies (West Bridgewater, MA) I was able to borrow my roommates old rickety bike and do the 28 miles back each way on Thursday. My legs were dead but it was an interesting experience, also a sad one as I realized that this would really be impossible to do on any regular basis.
The ride in itself was uneventful but coming back I found a parking ticket (street cleaning) on my car and couldn't believe it - not because I got one, this is probably my 7th ticket or so since moving here, but because I had forgotten about my car specifically because I biked that day. This was sadly ironic.
Speaking of sadly ironic, just a few days later I was playing tennis at the MIT tennis courts and noticed afterwards that a joyous barbecue was taking place so I went by and was offered hot dogs, chips, drinks, the whole works (I sweat I didn't even try to fit in as a student, although I guess I already do - small, dorky, and Jewish). I wasn't going to say no and so I partook and enjoyed a free afternoon of food and drink on M.I.T. But was it really on M.I.T.? The more I thought about the more I realized how college tuition is so high these days and some portion of our parent's tuition money is being channeled into places like this and ending up in the mouth's of the wrong people - like me. I guess you could say the same thing about a thousand budgeted items at a college and all of the student organizations which serve no purpose except to have their own bbq's and partake in the fun and enjoyment of redirecting a small portion of our parent's tuition money towards our fun. Yeh college
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
10 cavities
No, I didn't actually think this was possible, but today I found out I have 10 cavities when I paid (which will soon also be litteral) the dentist a visit after taking a year of absence. I know you probably don't care about my teeth but I just need a minute to complain here about the problem of incentive structures in this world. Obviously, every dentist has a different opinion over what constitutes a problem or something that actually needs fixing sooner rather than later. Dentists, like mechanics, stand to gain when they have more work and problems to fix.
Luckily, I DO NOT work on commission in sales for Equal Exchange so this problem really is avoided. I don't even get bonuses at Christmas. That way if some one is being a jerk or wants to bring in our coffee for the wrong reasons I can even say no (although yes in a small unnoticeable way my individual patronage rebate goes up slightly with each sale). But I would say this incentive based work structure - the "earn your keep" model that fuels most of America and has CEO's earning mega million dollar bonuses to sell sub-prime morgages in irresponsible manners is clearly not sustainable even if it does induce most recent college grads to work their asses off for an extra couple hundred dollars a week in exchange for having no life. There has to be some middle ground...Alpha, the alternative learning program in grades 6-8 that I went through where we each just set our own goals seemed to work just fine. Those of us with little ambition did little and for people that actually wanted to learn it was a great environment. And in the end, everyone knows, you can't beat a dead horse, or maybe that's the wrong expression, what I meant to say is some people will work hard and others won't and incentives, while well intentioned, often produce unexpected and additional results to the primary purpose.
So with all of that being said and a good rant out of my system, you might think I'm being cynical and over-the-top but I'm not. As I was leaving the dentist today, they sold me a tube of prescription tooth-paste for $15 - can I get a second opinion on this? I mean common!
Luckily, I DO NOT work on commission in sales for Equal Exchange so this problem really is avoided. I don't even get bonuses at Christmas. That way if some one is being a jerk or wants to bring in our coffee for the wrong reasons I can even say no (although yes in a small unnoticeable way my individual patronage rebate goes up slightly with each sale). But I would say this incentive based work structure - the "earn your keep" model that fuels most of America and has CEO's earning mega million dollar bonuses to sell sub-prime morgages in irresponsible manners is clearly not sustainable even if it does induce most recent college grads to work their asses off for an extra couple hundred dollars a week in exchange for having no life. There has to be some middle ground...Alpha, the alternative learning program in grades 6-8 that I went through where we each just set our own goals seemed to work just fine. Those of us with little ambition did little and for people that actually wanted to learn it was a great environment. And in the end, everyone knows, you can't beat a dead horse, or maybe that's the wrong expression, what I meant to say is some people will work hard and others won't and incentives, while well intentioned, often produce unexpected and additional results to the primary purpose.
So with all of that being said and a good rant out of my system, you might think I'm being cynical and over-the-top but I'm not. As I was leaving the dentist today, they sold me a tube of prescription tooth-paste for $15 - can I get a second opinion on this? I mean common!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Turning 24
My birthday was yesterday and I turned 24 - yeh me, happy birthday. Actually I really don't like Birthdays because they are so much more fun when you are a kid and you get to actually enjoy them - as pirates or mini-golfers or whatever, and you have friends. At 24 most of your childhood friends are gone and you are a loner along with your few close friends - or maybe I am just talking about myself. But I'm actually feeling like an adult now, which is weird, because it does happen so fast and 24 sounded so old to me when I was in college. I suppose when I'm 28 I'll say the same thing and maybe some day I'll just accept it.
I ended up spending my Birthday with my brother Adam which was nice. My (now) 4 year old neice Esther asked me why I had gotten kicked out of my old house. This was probably the highlight of the night as it was completely unprovoked and I have no idea how she knew that (I was't really kicked it, ok well, sort of, but that's another story) and it caused an uproar. But she really does remember everything. She's going to be a genious.
Anyways, now I am older, still can't grow a beard, and don't look that much different than I did 10 years ago. I'm not sure if this a good or bad thing yet.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Daily Catastrophies, etc.
So I was recently voted in as a worker-owner at Equal Exchange (I think it was in February for my one year anniversary - I can't believe it's been one year!). This was a great moment and it's pretty cool that I am now a co-owner of a $35 million company. I get a share of the profit, eventually a trip to source, voting rights, 401K, etc. I also got my one year review at this time and one of the comments from a close peer was that it seemed like there were daily catastrophes in my life, not always work-related, and that I needed improvement in this area cause it was disruptive. Well it's not that I totally disagree and I did get the name Train Wreck in college for a reason, but Ialso had some particularly bad luck right around my worker-ownership vote and one year review. For example, probably 2 or 3 coffee mugs flying off my desk after the the corner of whatever piece of clothing I was wearing smacked it as I turned to run to catch the van at the end of the day leaving in one minute (I am in a van pool for work and it leaves with or without you). Being late to a few too many times didn't help, and of course, there was the time a few weeks ago when I suddenly remembered last minute that my flight out of Logan was an hour before I thought it was and I somehow made a flight that I got to the airport 15 minutes before it was leaving after running from bus, to subway, to shuttle, to gate and arguing with baggage assholes for 10 minuts about my carry-on being too large (I did eventually get it on btw). I would say that I usually have good excuses, but I guess when this happens often enough it doesn't matter.
For awhile I've haven't been finding the time to write about these sometimes ridiculous events that I think some people might find humorous but today presented another chance:
It being the second day of Pesach (Passover), I was celebrating at my aunts an hour or so outside Boston. The reason why I didn't have my car and I was stuck at work at 5:15 running around trying to figure out how I was going to get there by 6 (I didn't have time to go back home to get my car as it was 45 minutes w/out trafffic to get there) is not even worth telling as somehow I always get myself into these situations. Needless to say, I would have pretty much missed passover if it hadn't been for a friend/co-worker who let me borrow the Equal Exchange events van (this was probably illegal) and told me "GOOOOO!!" So here I am running late (always running late), in this ridiculously colored farmer/artisan coffee van (think large multi-colored bath tub) trying to get through Boston rush hour traffic while (this is true) 1 - my GPS has run out of batteries (at least I am trying here, got the GPS for Chanukah a few months back) 2 - my cell phone is dying and I don't have directions 3 - and I am really stressing because my friend forgot to mention that the van had no gas. After quite a bit of sweaty armpits, I somehow make it 40 minutes late to my aunt's sedar with car still intact.
So the ridiculous part is that I was like the second person there! I should have known - my family is actually worse than me at being on time (really just my mom's side). So they finally show up an HOUR LATER!! and we start the Sedar but of course my aunt has these guide books from the 1950's - "Maxwell House Presents the Passover Sedar" filled with ridiculous adds for Kosher Maxwell House coffee. The language in these books was incoherent and noone really took it seriously (I always find it weird doing things like this with my family since it seems like we're always praying for God and most people in my family have never professed any belief in God -?)
Anyways, the night ended fine but this daily catastrophie stuff really does need to improve. At least for the time management thing, one suggestion from my brother has been to start enacting the fudge ratio but the rest of the world might just have to put up with me. It's all in the adjectives you use: loveable, goofy, fun, unpredictable OR unreliable, careless, clumsy, lacking foresight/common sense, whatever
For awhile I've haven't been finding the time to write about these sometimes ridiculous events that I think some people might find humorous but today presented another chance:
It being the second day of Pesach (Passover), I was celebrating at my aunts an hour or so outside Boston. The reason why I didn't have my car and I was stuck at work at 5:15 running around trying to figure out how I was going to get there by 6 (I didn't have time to go back home to get my car as it was 45 minutes w/out trafffic to get there) is not even worth telling as somehow I always get myself into these situations. Needless to say, I would have pretty much missed passover if it hadn't been for a friend/co-worker who let me borrow the Equal Exchange events van (this was probably illegal) and told me "GOOOOO!!" So here I am running late (always running late), in this ridiculously colored farmer/artisan coffee van (think large multi-colored bath tub) trying to get through Boston rush hour traffic while (this is true) 1 - my GPS has run out of batteries (at least I am trying here, got the GPS for Chanukah a few months back) 2 - my cell phone is dying and I don't have directions 3 - and I am really stressing because my friend forgot to mention that the van had no gas. After quite a bit of sweaty armpits, I somehow make it 40 minutes late to my aunt's sedar with car still intact.
So the ridiculous part is that I was like the second person there! I should have known - my family is actually worse than me at being on time (really just my mom's side). So they finally show up an HOUR LATER!! and we start the Sedar but of course my aunt has these guide books from the 1950's - "Maxwell House Presents the Passover Sedar" filled with ridiculous adds for Kosher Maxwell House coffee. The language in these books was incoherent and noone really took it seriously (I always find it weird doing things like this with my family since it seems like we're always praying for God and most people in my family have never professed any belief in God -?)
Anyways, the night ended fine but this daily catastrophie stuff really does need to improve. At least for the time management thing, one suggestion from my brother has been to start enacting the fudge ratio but the rest of the world might just have to put up with me. It's all in the adjectives you use: loveable, goofy, fun, unpredictable OR unreliable, careless, clumsy, lacking foresight/common sense, whatever
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